However, I currently lack sticks, and my old South African answer of "half a broomstick" is probably frowned on over here.

I have a friend who was using any kind of stick he could get his hands on. He just wanted to get comfortable grabbing anything and being able to use it. So the different lengths have to be adjusted for, on the spot. The main problem we have with the other sticks is that they break really easily and they vibrate really bad in the hands when you hit stick on stick.

Don't know where you get them from in the UK, but can you get cold steel sticks? I hear they are nice.

Otherwise, buy some in bulk and treat and harden them yourself.

4/30/2012 4:47pm,

Permalost

I like to get my sticks from www.bloodsport.com. The place is run by Nick Papadakis of the Dog Brothers, and I've gotten direct feedback from him with my order and that's good in my book. Not sure if they ship to the UK but I don't see why not. They sell sticks designed for serious contact and training, and as such they sell rattan with the bark still on it (a lot of places sell lightweight "debarked" and laquered rattan that looks nice for performances but doesn't stand up to real training).

Or as Diesel suggested, you could try making your own. You may be able to pick up lengths of rattan at a wicker furniture supply place, then cut and process them how you want to. There's a wealth of info out there about how to do this. I'm hesitant to recommend the Cold Steel black eskrima sticks because I've read reviews where they've broken in half to reveal a hollow gas pocket inside the stick. They're also pretty heavy compared to rattan.

5/01/2012 6:05am,

Fuzzy

Thanks for the info guys.

I'm probably going to have a look for some rattan lengths to make my own. As awesome as the KIL sticks are, they're a bit out of my price range at the moment.

5/01/2012 8:31am,

Diesel_tke

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Thanks for the info guys.

I'm probably going to have a look for some rattan lengths to make my own. As awesome as the KIL sticks are, they're a bit out of my price range at the moment.

Most of the Dog's say to get a **** load of them at first until you get your technique down. But once you get it down, you could be a pretty good resource for other local people to get sticks from.